


This Fortress Has People In It

by mysterykai



Category: Team Fortress 2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-17
Updated: 2016-05-17
Packaged: 2018-06-09 01:44:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,396
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6883909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mysterykai/pseuds/mysterykai
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Miss Pauling and Bidwell review the footage of what happens after Scout gets a new comic.<br/>(Very loosely based off of the short ' This House Has People In It')</p>
            </blockquote>





	This Fortress Has People In It

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoy, see the poster here

               Unlike what the Announcer tries to pretend not all bases are constantly monitored. However for security purposes recordings of all active camera's in all bases, active or not, are automatically sent and stored in the Snake Head master computer. Removing her helmet Miss Pauling tossed it onto the seat of her moped and headed inside the building balancing her sledgehammer on one shoulder.

                To say Snake Head was decrepit would have been an insult to mausoleums and as Miss Pauling made her way through the winding corridors of cracked linoleum tiles and dust she couldn't help but make a note in the back of her head to kill the grounds keeper and have a new one hired no later than Thursday. The dark hall she currently found herself in forked suddenly to the left and at the end she saw what she had come for, an aged metal door with the words 'S Records' painted in blocky purple lettering. She found herself vaguely surprised when the handle didn't disintegrate at her touch though the rusted knob felt none too pleasant in her grasp.

                The room itself was dark, very dark in fact, with a distinct lack of humming overhead fluorescents or lamps of any kind. The only source of light was from the soft glow of the master computers multitude of screens. Miss Pauling hesitated at the sound of footsteps behind her before frowning when the feeling of Bidwell's presence ghosted up toward her.

"Alright I'll admit," he said. " You _almost_ lost me at the underpass."

"I _should_ have lost you at the underpass." She corrected. "I told you to go left."

"And yet here I am."

Looking at her black suited colleague in distaste she agreed, "And yet here you are."

                She let go of the door, a small part of her hoping for it to smack Bidwell in the side, and strode over to the single chair in front of the mass of screens resting her sledgehammer against the control panel .

"Why are you even here, I told you I would give you the full report by twenty-one hundred hours."

"And I told you that while I appreciate the offer, I am here to make sure that Mr. Hales investments are properly... accounted." He responded carefully.

                Miss Pauling snuck a glance at him from under her glasses. He stood beside her, arms folded behind his back and face impassive, he almost looked bored. But Miss Pauling had spent most of her life learning to read people by the way they moved and she could read Bidwell perfectly, the tense shoulders, the creased brow, he was scared.

                He was smart to be scared.

                Miss Pauling looked away the second she saw the glint of Bidwell's eyes shift. Quickly her fingers moved across the keyboard in front of her as she typed in Turbines authorization code. In front of them the screens sparked to life, first to an eye searing white that caused both to flinch and then to a series of slightly grainy camera shots, each one surveying a different part of the Turbine base. Not wasting a moment Miss Pauling keyed in the days date and timestamp for the early afternoon.

___

[10:32 AM - Common Room]

                With his back against the arm of the sofa and his legs sprawled out onto its cushions Scout stared intently at his comic book. At first Miss Pauling had almost thought he was reading, but upon a closer look she saw that wasn't right. He wasn't reading, he was staring. Eyes unreading, unblinking, unseeing. It was unsettling to see someone so usually full of energy to be so totally still. Still, nothing else looked out of the ordinary. No one else was there.

 

[10: 35 AM - Roof]

                Speaking of sprawled out, there was Sniper laying flat against the slow baking concrete of the roof, his hat tipped down to cover his face. Every so often a snore would escape his lips.

 

[10:35 AM - Spy's Smoking Room]

                Seated at his large oaken desk Spy had begun the rather benign but no less important task of cleaning his gun. The Ambassador lay in several pieces on a white cloth as Spy went about the motions, his posture lax and expression more peaceful than Miss Pauling had ever seen it. He was so totally enamored by the task at hand he failed to notice his Dead Ringer. The golden pocket watch lay open between the white cloth and the desks lamp, the black screen inside totally visible to the camera which, at Miss Pauling's estimation, was pulsating light every one and a quarter seconds.

 

[10: 40 AM - Dining Hall]

                Slamming down a three of hearts Demo howled with laughter as Heavy simply shook his head and looked back at his hand. The two were seated opposite each other playing a card game Pauling never took the time to learn, though by the looks of things neither player was doing too well.

"You know it means a lot to her." Demo said suddenly, his eye trained solely on his hand.

Heavy shifted in his seat. "Da."

"Lass' just been goin' on and on about it." He continued. "She's more excited to see the two of you than she is to see me."

                Miss Pauling knew Heavy had never been one for small talk, but whatever the two were talking about was clearly making him uncomfortable.

"If Doktor and she are happy, is fine."

"Ah, no mate I didn't mean it like that!" Demo said with a start. "She's just, he's still important to her. Y'know how it is, well alright maybe not personally but still you have to empathize a bit with their situation and all."

Heavy gave a non committed grunt.

 

[10:47 AM - Engine Room]

                Engineer walked past each engine with an uncharacteristic detachment in the way he looked at them. His clipboard hung in a limp grasp by his side and swung gently as he walked. He went slowly to the engine furthest in row from the camera and stopped dead. The clipboard snapped in the gunslinger's hold and Pauling very clearly saw Engie mouth the words-

"What in the-"

 

[10: 55 AM - Medical Examination Room]

                In quite the same fashion as Sniper had been Medic was lying on one of the rooms three cots. Occasionally he mouthed a word to himself as if what he was thinking was beginning to leak out. His fist was balled and pressed closely to his chest as the quiet scratch of a record player was heard faintly in the background.

 

[11:06 AM- Corridor F]

                Loaded shotgun in hand Soldier skulked though the hallway while his thick boots hit against the floor loudly with every step. Miss Pauling had to wonder if he was making all that noise on purpose. After all, it wasn't like he was incapable of stealth.

 

[11:11 AM - Engine Room]

                At a light jog Engineer reentered the cameras frame followed by Pyro. Waving the other over to the furthest engine Engie then began talking very animatedly, his hands waving from Pyro to the engine, his words lost to the distance between him and the ceiling mounted security cam. A bit hesitant Pyro walked closer to the engine and crouched, looking at the hunk of metal and then to its unseen side. Engineer spoke and Pyro stood immediately.

 

[11:19 AM - Roof]

                Silently a shadow glided over Sniper. Miss Pauling felt Bidwell jolt as Sniper snapped into a sitting position, hands clawing at his throat and mouth opened wide releasing an unheard scream.

 

[11:20 AM - Dining Hall]

"And I'm saying she likes darker colors!"

                Heavys hands were empty of cards, the game obviously forgotten as the two men stared each other down.

"You watch mouth-"

"Or what?" Demo scoffed. "You'll watch it for me? Please lad, you dandies can't scare me into changin' her party decorations!"

"This is game to you, small man? You don't know the first thing about it!"

"And you don't know the first thing about _her_!" Demos lips pulled back into a mirthless smile. "Or him, for that matter."

                His next choice of words were cut off by Heavy's hands wrapping around his throat.

 

[11: 24 AM - Common Room]

                "I just can't believe it." Engie's voice broke through the monotonous quiet as he and Pyro were momentarily visible to the camera when they walked past Scout to the fridge on the opposite side of the room.

                Pyro muttered something in response and Scouts hand twitched, one of his fingers moving to cover the violet eye of whatever tentacled creature was on the comics cover.

 

[11: 30 AM - Spy's Smoking Room]

                The changes to the scene were miniscule to say the least. Spy was still in his seat, still gently tending to his gun, still very, very relaxed. The Dead Ringer, however, now seemed to be flashing at nearly twice the speed as it had been before, its light now strong enough to send momentary splashes of brightness onto Spy's face.

                From beneath his desk an arm lay limply on the ground the body it was connected to hidden behind the oaken mass.

 

[11:41 AM - Common Room]

Engie waved his hand between the comic book and Scouts face.

"Anybody in there?" Engies voice was light but his expression has tense. "Scout?"

Pyro muttered something from out of frame and Engie just shook his head.

 

[11:45 AM - Engine Room]

                Slowly Soldier entered, his whole body on high alert. He looked around the room his shotgun at the ready. He walked to the engine furthest from the camera and stopped.

 

[11:49 AM - Mundy Van Cam]

                With enough force to pull it from its squeaky hinges Sniper threw open the door to his camper van and practically jumped inside. Not bothering to close it or even to remove his shoes he bounded over to the sturdy wooden dresser that had been nailed to the floor beside his Murphy Bed. He pulled open each drawer starting from the top and with increasing ferocity tore out the clothes that lay inside. His body froze suddenly as he ransacked the middle drawer from which he produced a single golden pocket watch.

                He turned the thing over in his hand, the light of the midday sun streaming in through the single window glinting off of its gilded surface. Sniper looked positively weak in the knees as he stumbled over his own feet back out the door.

[12:03 PM - Common Room]

                Having given up on the worry of dislocating Scouts shoulder Engie pulled on the man's arm with all his might. Scout didn't even budge, his eyes remaining fixed on the comic in his hands.

"Pyro!" Engineer was out of breath. "A little help!"

                The masked man put both hands on Scouts back and tried to time his pushes in line with Engie's fierce pulls.

 

[12:10 PM - Spy's Smoking Room]

                The image of Spy snapping the pieces of his gun back together was illuminated by the harsh light erupting from the Dead Ringer. It's rays shone down and cast a glow on the mounting pile of masked corpses below his desk.

                Spy's peaceful expression disappeared at the sound of a knock on the door.

 

[12: 15 PM - Corridor A, B, C, D, F, G, H]

                Miss Pauling's eyes scanned the screens for any sign of Soldier. Any sign of a helmet, a grenade, or those clunky black boots would have given her just a bit of solace, but instead all she saw were internal organs hung around the engine room like party decorations.

 

[12:22 PM - Common Room]

" _WHY ISN'T THIS WORKING?"_

 

[12:23 PM - Spy's Smoking Room]

                Snapping the last piece of the Ambassador back into place Sniper spun the barrel and looked quite content to just watch it spin. Atop the old oak desk two golden pocket watches lay open side by side sparking off one another. Using the latest corpse as a footrest Sniper leaned back into the chair and pointed the Ambassador, it felt, right at Miss Pauling's head. Silently and with a smile Sniper mouthed the word 'Boom' before the feed went black.

 

[12:45 PM - Dining Hall]

                Demos head rested in his hands, his breathing quiet and gaze cast at the unfinished card game now left on the table. His shoulders were tense with words left unspoken, his posture weighted from the horrid venom he could never take back. Oh how he wish he could take it all back and start from the beginning.

                Demoman jumped at the sound of a knock on the door.

 

[12: 53 PM - Medical Examination Room]

                Waving his wedding band in front of the creatures face Medic couldn't help but giggle.

"You like the shiny, shiny?" He mocked as the thing began vomiting violet bile.

                Ducking out of the way of a stray tentacle that swung a bit too close to his face Medic grabbed his bone saw and in one swipe hacked the unruly appendage off of its host.

"Now, now," He said wagging a stern finger at the wailing thing. "No more of that schlechte Einstellung or else you'll just be blob with no arms."

                His laughter echoed in ruthless company with the record players rising symphony.

 

[1:11 PM - Common Room]

"We could- w-we could make a pulley system and maybe.. no that won't work.... Maybe if we got at the right angle."

                Engineer paced back and forth dragging his hand down his face as he continued to spout endless possibilities that he himself would then shoot down. Pyro sat on the arm of the sofa and looked down at Scouts comic with a simple motion. Almost immediately Pyro jumped from his seat, the action sending him sprawling onto the ground.

"Whoa, Buddy!" Engie jogged over to help Pyro up. "You ok?"

                Pyro pushed the other away from him and took the fire ax from his belt. Lining the head up with Scouts arm the only hesitance Pyro showed was with a quick tilt of the head.

\---

                Miss Pauling pushed her seat away from the monitors, the silence between her and Bidwell was palpable. So naturally he was the first to break it.

"What... does this mean for us?"

                Picking up her sledge hammer Miss Pauling gave him her patented sigh.

"It means we have a _lot_ of work to do."


End file.
